Automatic flange-oiler.



W. A. NOBLE. 7 AUTOMATIC FLANGE OILER. APPLICATION FILED JAN.13, 1910.

Patented Jan. 10, 1911.

WILLIAM ACER NOBLE, or ISABELLA, TENNESSEE.

AUTOMATIC FLANGE-OILER.

7 Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 10, 1911.

Application filed January 13, 1910. Serial No. 537,939.

To a?! whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM A. NOBLE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Isabella, in the county of Polk and State of Tennessee, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Flange-Oilers. of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a device for applying oil or alubricantautomatically to the flange or periphery of a car wheel or thelike while rounding curves.

An important object of my invention is the provision of a device of theabove character, which is adapted to oil the flange of the wheeltraveling upon the outer higher rail of a curve, while the wheeltraveling upon the inner rail is not oiled.

A further object of my invention is to provide a device of the abovecharacter,

- comprising a plurality of-valves which are controlled by a singlependulum device.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification and inwhich like numerals are used to designate like parts throughout thesame, Figure 1 is a side view of my device, the same being applied tothe guide yoke of a locomotive. .Fig. 2 is a similar view. my devicebeing shown in a. ditterent position with relation to the yoke. Fig. 3is a vertical cross sectional view through the oil tank and associatedmembers. Fig. 4 is an enlarged cross sectional view of the valve shownin Fig. 3.

In the preferred embodiment of my invention, as illustrated in thedrawings, 1 and 2 designate driving wheels upon an ordinary locomotive.The driving wheels 1 and .2 are provided with peripheral flanges and-4respectively. The numeral 5 designates a guide yoke of the locomotiveand is rigidly connected 1 .to the supports 6.

Near each of the wheels 1 and 2, I provide an oil-tank 7 provided uponits upper end with an extension 8, by the means of which the tank 7 ispivotally connected as at 9 to the guideyoke 5. The side of the tankadjacent the guide yoke 5 is preferably fiat. and the tank 7 is capableof swinging in a substantially vertical plane. Each of the tanks 7 haveupper and lower closed ends 10 and 11, and the upper end 10 is providedwith a removable cap 12, whereby a lubricant may be introduced into thetank.

Within each of the tanks 7 adjacent its lower'end 11, is arranged ablock 13 which is rigidly secured to the tank and provided with avertical transverse opening 14. The block 13 is further provided with ahorizontal longitudinal opening 15 which communicates with the centralportion of the transverse opening 14.

The numeral 16 designates a valve which is screw-threaded as at 17 anddisposed within the transverse opening 14. The end 17 of the valve 16 isadapted to close the inner endof the longitudinal opening 15 and tocontrol the communication of said openin 15 with the transverse opening14. The va ve 16 is journaled through the upper end of the tank 7 as at18 and is provided upon its upper end with a" fixed wheel 19. The lowerclosed end 11 is provided with a boss 20 through which the transverseopening 14 extends, and said boss 20 carries an outer cylindrical casing21 which is rigidly secured thereto by any suitable means. Within theouter casing 21 is disposed a pipe 22, the upper end of which is rigidlysecured within the transverse opening 14 below the horizontal opening,15, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 3.

At the lower end of the outer casing 21 is arranged a block 23 providedupon its upper side with a boss 24 which is disposed within the lowerend of the outer casing 21 and rigidly secured to said casing bysuitable means. centrally thereof with an opening 25'which passesthrough the boss 24, and within which the lower. end of the pipe 22fits. The block 23 is provided with an L-shaped opening 26 whichcommunicates with the outer casing '21 upon the outer side of the tube22, as

The block is provided municates with the opening 25 and with a largeropening 28. The 0 ening in turn communicates with a cylindrical recess29 formed upon the inner end of the block 23. The cylindrical recess 29is much larger than the opening 28 and is adapted for the reception of aball valve 30 which in turn is smaller than the internal surface of therecess- 29. The ball valve 30 is retained with in the recess 29 by meansof. a cap 31 which is screw threaded as at 32 upon the block 23. The cap31 is provided with an opening 33 which forms a seat for the ball valve30. The ball valve 30 extends beyond the outer side of the cap 31, andit is obvious that when the block 23 engages the flange of a wheel, in amanner to be hereinafter described, the ball valve 30 will be forcedinto the recess 29 until said ball valve becomes flush with the outerside of said cap 31. lVhen the ball valve 80 is thus forced within therecess 29, the same is moved from its seat 33 and a lubricant may thenflow from the pipe 22 to the flange of the wheel. The ball valve 30 isnormally held upon its seat 33 by means of coil spring 34 which isarranged within the opening 28.

The tank 7 is provided with an externally threaded boss 35, which isarranged near the lower closed end 11 and through which passes anopening 36, which communicates with the outer casing 21. By means of theboss 35 and its opening 36, a flexible hose may be secured to said bossand steam fed from the engine to the outer casing 21. The steam withinthe casing 21 keeps the oil or lubricant warm and thus prevents the samefrom hardening. The opening 26 forms a means whereby the steam may leavethe outer casing 21.

The guide-yoke 5 has a pendulum or weight 37 pivotally connected to thecentral portion of the same as at 38. The pendulum 37 tapers toward itsupper end and being 'pivotally connected at its upper end, to theguide-yoke 5, said pendulum is capable of swinging in a substantiallyvertical plane. Connecting rods 39 have their inner ends pivotallyconnected as at 40 to the pendulum 37, and have their outer endspivotally connected as at 41 to ears formed upon the outer casings 21.

In the operation of my device, the valve 16 is raised so that oil maypass from the tank 7 into the tube 22. Steam is also fed into the outercasing 21. \Vhen the engine is rounding a curve, the wheel 1 is raisedabove wheel 2, as illustrated in Fig. 2. This causes the guide-yoke 5 tobe tilted. The pendulum 37 will remain in a substantially verticalposition and accordingly draw the tank 7 toward the wheel 1 and at thesame time move the other tank 7 away from the wheel 2. It is to beunderstood that the pendulum 37 is acted upon by two opposing forces,namely centrifugal force and gravity. The force of gravity tends toretain the pendulum in a vertical position while centrifugal force tendsto swing the same outwardly, and the pendulum therefore occupies aposition which is the resultant of the two forces, as shown in Fig. 2.The tank 7 adjacent the wheel 1 will have its ball valve 30 forced intoengagement with the flange 3, whereby said ball valve will be unseatedand the oil allowed to flow upon. said flange 3. It is obvious that theflange 4 of the wheel 2 is oiled in a similar manner when the wheel 2 iselevated above the wheel 1.

Having fully described my invention what I claim 1s:-

1. In a device of the kind described, the

combination with a wheel provided with a flange, of a member supportedby said wheel, an oil tank pivotally connected to said member, adischarge pipe connected to said tank, and a valve structure to controlsaid pipe and engage the flange when said member is tilted.

2. In a device of the character described, the combination with a wheelprovided wilh a flange,.of a member supported by said wheel, a tankpivotally connected to said member, a pipe connected to said tank, avalve structure to control said pipe, and engage the flange when saidmember is tilted. a pendulum pivotally connected to said member. andconnecting means between said pendulum and pipe.

3. In a device of the character described, the combination with a wheelprovided with a flange, of a member supported by said wheel, a tankpivotally connected to said member, discharge means for said tank, avalve structure including a ball-valve, to control said means and engagethe flange, said ball-valve being unseated by its engagement with saidflange, when said memher is tilted, a pendent structure pivotallyconnected to said member, and connecting means between said pendentstructure and tank.

i. In a device of the character described, the combination with a wheelprovided with a flange, of a member supported bysaid wheel, a tank,pivotally connected to said member near said wheel, a discharge pipefor said tank, a valve structure to control said pipe, including aball-valve, a spring to normally hold said ball-valve seated, said valvestructure being disposed to engage the flange when the member is tilted,and said ball-valve being unscated by its engagement with the flange.

5. In a device of the character described, the combination witha Wheelhaving a flange, of a member supported by said wheel, an oil tankpivotallv connected to said member near the wheel, a discharge pipe forsaid tank, a valve structure to control said pipe and engage the flangewhen said member is tilted, said valve structure including a springpressed ball-valve to be unseated by the flange, a casing surroundingsaid discharge pipe, and steam supply means for said casing.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

\VILLIAM ACER NOBLE.

Witnesses:

G. B. FARISS, R. L. HILL.

